Everyone in India is chasing unicorns: Aashish Kalra

Aashish Kalra, chairman of Cambridge Technology Enterprises (CTE), is back in India and this time around he comes with a $12.5-million innovation fund for the big data and analytics industry.

Kalra, who acquired the Kansas (US) and Hyderabad-headquartered CTE last year, is looking to invest in 50 companies through this Cambridge Innovations Fund and will provide capital, people and technical knowledge to early-stage entrepreneurs.

In a conversation with VCCircle, Kalra not only discusses his plans for CTE but also talks about investing in India. Although he believes that India is still not a mature market with everybody chasing unicorns, he says it has a lot of growth potential.

Kalra says that while he may not invest in India in his personal capacity, he is providing a platform for Indians through the Cambridge Innovations Fund to invest in US-based startups. Although a lot of these investments may not be in Indian companies these startups will provide many solutions for the Indian market, he says.

Kalra had earlier founded Trikona Capital, where he deployed $1 billion for Indian infrastructure development initiatives.